World Photography Day 2016: purpose, passion and perspective

Share This

Tags

It’s that time of year again when the world gets together to commemorate the art of photography.

World Photography Day, celebrates the works of amateur and professional photographers. It is an international photography event on August 19th that celebrates the passion for photography in our communities.

In a world where millions of pictures are uploaded every minute, World Photo Day is inspiring thousands of photographers across the planet to share a single photo with a simple purpose: to share their world with the world.

From everyday life to incredible landscapes, our global gallery is an evolving mosaic of images captured by photographers of all skills levels living in a diverse range of countries and cultures.

No matter who you are, where you are or what equipment and skills you have, World Photo Day can help open your eyes to the possibilities of photography, and enable you show us the world as you see it.

(Photo: worldphotoday.com)

Daguerreotype, the origins of photography

The date behind World Photo Day originates from the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic processes developed by Joseph Nicèphore Nièpce and Louis Daguerre in 1837. On January 9, 1839, The French Academy of Sciences announced the daguerreotype process. A few months later, on August 19, 1839, the French government purchased the patent and announced the invention as a gift “Free to the World”.

It should be noted that the Daguerreotype wasn’t the first permanent photographic image. In 1826, Nicèphore Nièpce captured the earliest known permanent photograph known as ‘View from the Window at Le Gras‘ using a process called Heliography.

August 19th, 1839 was chosen as the date behind World Photo Day based on the following historical merits:

– The Daguerreotype as the first practical photographic process.
– The purchase and release of the patent by the French government.

Daguerrotype (worldphotoday.com)

On the occasion of World Photo Day, we give you the top 20 quotes that describe the true essence of photography:

“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” ― Karl Lagerfeld

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” ― Ansel Adams

“When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!” ― Ted Grant

“Black and white are the colours of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected” — Robert Frank

“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.” ― Ansel Adams

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” — Aaron Siskind

“Taking pictures is savouring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” ― Marc Riboud

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” ― Ansel Adams

“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense and is thereby a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.” ― Ansel Adams

“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” — Edward Steichen

“I tend to think of the act of photographing, generally speaking, as an adventure. My favourite thing is to go where I’ve never been.” ― Diane Arbus

“To me, the magic of photography, per se, is that you can capture an instant of a second that couldn’t exist before and couldn’t exist after. It’s almost like a cowboy that draws his gun. You draw a second before or after, you miss and you’re dead – not them. To me, photography’s always like that.” — Mario Testino

“Essentially what photography is, is life lit up.” — Sam Abell

“A photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you.” ― Brigitte Bardot

“We are often taught to look for the beauty in all things, so in finding it, the layman asks the philosopher while the philosopher asks the photographer.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Photography is a magical kind of art that allows people to preserve time and moments, and to describe the world the way they see it.” ― Sahara Sanders

“I wish more people felt that photography was an adventure the same as life itself and felt that their individual feelings were worth expressing. To me, that makes photography more exciting.” — Harry Callahan

“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.” ― Peter Gasser

“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” ― Elliott Erwitt